A buddy of mine has an f150. When he bought it he had a lot of trouble with it. Lots of warranty repairs to the driveline and engine. The engine had exhaust manifolds replaced and the cylinder heads replaced and then at about 130 km got quite noisy. Bad enough that the ticking/ rapping noise made it difficult to go through a Tim Hortons drive through. The dealer pulled the engine apart and found that a cam phaser disintegrated and the metal went through the engine. First thing asked was how often do you change the oil? He replied that he did it himself every 5K. Because the dealer didnt have a record of the maintenance they tried to deny warranty. He replied that whenever he had warranty work, the oil had been changed. The dealer pulled invoices and he was still within the guidelines in the manual, so the engine was replaced.

Paul

A couple of thoughts:

1) Changing your own oil is a great way to save money on a car that's out of warranty.  Most of us get some satisfaction from doing it as well.  However, if you have a problem while it's within the warranty period, the OEM will not have a record of the oil changes, and even if you produce receipts, have no way of knowing that you actually replaced the oil on your vehicle when you said you did.  In a court of law, you wouldn't have much to stand on if the company denied an expensive warranty claim due to your having no record of the changes.

2) Most modern vehicles have maintenance minders that use your driving data to calculate maintenance periods, and then tell you when to take it in.  Does Hyundai not have that system?

3) With modern oils, manufacturing techniques to attain more accurate clearances, improved emissions systems, etc., it has been found that long oil changes, like 12,000 km, do not cause harm to an engine.  They have been tested exactly for this - manufacturers don't randomly change things like maintenance schedules without some procedure to ensure that they are doing the right thing - think about it - engine failures in the warranty period would cost them millions, and engine failures after the warranty period - within reason - would cost them customers.  I believe most manufacturers specify a time limit as well (1 year?), so if you don't drive much you should still change your oil on a regular basis, due to moisture and other contaminants collecting in the oil.

4) Sure, you will not harm your engine by regularly changing the oil early - I've known guys who will change it every 2000 km - but in reality it probably isn't necessary except for peace of mind and personal satisfaction of 'taking care of' your engine.  I think the hardest thing on an engine are lots of short trips, stop and go driving, etc., especially in the wintertime when it takes longer for your engine to warm up and typically would be more conducive to moisture collecting in your engine.  This should be taken care of by the maintenance minder.

5) I don't know their personal situation, but I've seen dealers (which are actually franchises owned privately, not owned by the company) give out their own "maintenance schedules" to customers, telling them to come in for maintenance much earlier than the company recommendation.  Don't be fooled - this is purely an attempt at a cash grab by the dealer to get you in there more frequently.  Lots of fear of the unknown out there to be played upon, and to profit from.

6) Didn't Hyundai/Kia have a lot of engine failures in the news not long ago?  I'm guessing they were being told to use the severe usage schedule in an attempt to avoid issues caused by a design defect... just a guess.  https://globalnews.ca/news/6003329/kia-owners-outraged-to-be-excluded-from-recall-after-engines-fail/

7) I think overall, longer oil changes are better for the environment in that less oil (organic or synthetic) has to be refined/manufactured, and less that has to be recycled (or dumped somewhere it shouldn't be...).  On a person to person basis, it doesn't seem like much, but if you look at it cumulatively, over millions of vehicles, it adds up pretty quickly.  Don't shoot the messenger - these are the times we are moving towards.  I'm just happy that, for now, we can still enjoy our IC engines before some government entity bans them altogether (which IMHO isn't reasonable or attainable, but that's a whole other topic - and politics are a 'no go' on this forum, for good reason).

 

*If you don't agree with me, that's fine.  The above are just my opinions based on what I've seen/experienced.  Your experience may vary...

I've worked for GM, Chrylser, Toyota and Hyundai. All of them said owners in Canada should follow the severe duty schedule. Makes sense to me as I think most of us experience severe tempurature swings throughout the year and I feel winter driving can be hard on a car. We never denied warranty if someone who followed the regular schedule had a claim. On my own vehicles I change the oil twice a year- Spring and Fall. My work HHR sees 90% highway KM's and I just had it changed yesterday. It was 15000k since the last oil change and the oil life indicator showed 23% remaining. It has 318k and doesn't smoke, burn a drop or have any abnormal noises.

73SC wrote:

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I was resisting this thread but oh well.

If Canada is deemed Severe Duty by Manufacturers then why not call it Canadian Service Schedule to avoid any issues with customers.

Who saves money by doing their own oil change?  That's literally impossible. I like to call endeavours like this a Fool's Errand.

You can get a conventional oil change just about anywhere for $24.99. 5 L of oil and a filter are going to cost you 35 bucks then there is the opportunity cost of your time, shop supplies and disposal of oil.  I can't imagine that changing oil is anybody's most valuable use of their time. Let's face it, we change our own oil because we like fooling around with cars and the second you open up your garage all the other guys in the neighbourhood show up to shoot the breeze, maybe crack open a few pops ta boot, not to save money.

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Must be a GTA price as I haven't seen anything that cheap out east.  Also, who is changing your oil for that money?  Are they changing the filter too?  Are they crossthreading your drain plug.  Leaving greasy fingerprints on your hood then wiping them off with a dirty rag?  There are more reasons than price that one would want to change their own oil.  There are fool's errands, and then there is 'good money thrown after bad'.  Sometimes when you are cheap you get your money's worth...

FWIW, I like to work alone in a shop - no visitors, no talkers.  Just me and my car so I can concentrate on what I'm doing and not miss something.

73SC wrote:

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You can get a conventional oil change just about anywhere for $24.99. 

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 I wish.........I pay $80. at my  local garage for synthetic + filter.

which looks like what Jiffy Lube charges. Conventional is about $10-15  less.

https://www.mycertifiedservice.ca/deals-values-rebates-western/oil-change-for-less.html?ppc=GOOGLE_700000001509888_71700000029719225_58700003689173719_p28976805587&gclid=Cj0KCQjwivbsBRDsARIsADyISJ8pDL8nuvwOqKRCWk96PLuulFxUBXI7ZgzPHjjgJUpftw3y-3SHXCUaAjF9EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

-- Edited by Greaser on Wednesday 9th of October 2019 04:57:28 PM

$50!!! I wish it cost me that much to get my Ram done. Easy over a "C" note every time. Truck calls for synthetic 5W20. When I bought-my third Ram- my good friend who builds engines for a living told me that at every 5K is a cash grab for the dealer ships. 15K is the norm as oil is synthetic now and the engines are built with a tighter tolerance than when they were built back in the day. I believe him as he is beyond anal with anything he builds........

Is it quick lube places, dealerships, independants, big box stores with auto centres?

I think I'd be scared of an oil change for that price!